Telecommunication housings shield, secure, and protect telecommunication network cables and electronic devices from their surroundings. The housings can also be subjected to partial or total submersion in water and are often required to be sealed against a pressure differential. These sealed housings are required to remove energy, usually in the form of heat, generated by the electronic equipment in the housings. Many enclosures trap heat generated by the electronics. The build up of heat within these enclosures can cause significant problems for the electronic equipment by challenging the temperature limits of the electronic devices and causing device failure.
In order to maintain internal housing temperatures within the temperature limits of the enclosed electronic devices, the housings and electronic devices are typically designed to dissipate heat through passive heat transfer paths. Under certain conditions, these passive heat transfer paths prove to be insufficient to maintain internal housing temperatures within temperature limits of the electronic devices. Possible causes for inadequate passive heat transfer paths include, but are not limited to, corrosion, fouling, solar loading, poor air flow, high ambient temperature, and electronic devices generating more heat than expected. In these conditions, additional heat removal capacity is required for the continued reliable operation of the electronic devices. One problem is that many of the housings that require additional heat removal have already been placed in remote locations with limited power options, or congested installation sites with limited space, and as such effective auxiliary cooling solutions are difficult to achieve. The need for a retrofitable solution is high.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for effective, low maintenance and low power auxiliary cooling methods and systems for electrical device housings.